Where to focus in landscape photography. Setting the hyperfocal distance without calculations.

One of the most important concepts in landscape photography is the hyperfocal distance. Sometimes photographer hasn’t neither calculator depth of field nor table of hyperfocal distances. It is a typical situation for beginners, and our students often asked us how to deal with it.

Heretofore we advised the classic way “to divide the space in the frame into three parts, and focus on the first third,” but this method is very rough and we do not like it at all. This forced us to invent new method of finding hyperfocal distance. We haven’t met this method in books or Internet yet, that is why we decide to describe it for you now.

Few words for those who don’t know what it means – hyperfocal distance. We will not give here a formal definition of this term : we formulate the definition from practical point of view:

Hyperfocal distance – distance, focused on which, you get a maximum depth of field (with given aperture and focal length).

Now let’s look at our method (it is assumed that the camera is already on a tripod and shutter speed, aperture and sensitivity are set correctly, the focus mode “Manual”):

1. Turn on Live View

2. Magnify the part of frame, where the most distant object is (as much as possible).